Outi Setälä, Vivi Fleming-Lehtinen, Maiju Lehtiniemi, Ingestion and 
transfer of microplastics in the planktonic food web, Environmental 
Pollution, Volume 185, February 2014, Pages 77-83, ISSN 0269-7491, 
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2013.10.013.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749113005411)
Abstract: Experiments were carried out with different Baltic Sea 
zooplankton taxa to scan their potential to ingest plastics. Mysid 
shrimps, copepods, cladocerans, rotifers, polychaete larvae and ciliates 
were exposed to 10 μm fluorescent polystyrene microspheres. These 
experiments showed ingestion of microspheres in all taxa studied. The 
highest percentage of individuals with ingested spheres was found in 
pelagic polychaete larvae, Marenzelleria spp. Experiments with the 
copepod Eurytemora affinis and the mysid shrimp Neomysis integer showed 
egestion of microspheres within 12 h. Food web transfer experiments were 
done by offering zooplankton labelled with ingested microspheres to 
mysid shrimps. Microscopy observations of mysid intestine showed the 
presence of zooplankton prey and microspheres after 3 h incubation. This 
study shows for the first time the potential of plastic microparticle 
transfer via planktonic organisms from one trophic level 
(mesozooplankton) to a higher level (macrozooplankton). The impacts of 
plastic transfer and possible accumulation in the food web need further 
investigations.
Keywords: Microplastic litter; Zooplankton; Trophic transfer; Planktonic 
food web